The United Wa State Army (UWSA) has confiscated
farmlands and homes belonging to villagers in the eastern Shan State township
of Mong Pawk.

According to local sources, UWSA battalion 468,
which is based in Mong Pawk, began seizing lands since early July in order to
make way for a new town development.

“In an ethnic Lahu village named Jadawkhar, families
from 32 households were evicted. Their lands were also seized, and they were
forced to sign over their land [to the Wa army],” said local resident Aik Nub.

He said that no compensation was offered to the
evicted families and that many face grave hardships with neither homes nor
livelihoods.

Ar Pong, a UWSA battalion commander in Mong Pauk,
told Shan Herald that the land confiscations were a necessary measure in
order to build a new town in the eastern part of the township. He said about
3,000 acres of land would have to be cleared.

The UWSA is recognized as having
control over the Wa self-administered region, which comprises the townships of
Hopang, Mongma, Pangwai, Narpan, Mangman and its headquarters Panghsang. It is widely
regarded as the strongest ethnic army in Burma, with a troop strength estimated
at up to 30,000.

The group did not sign the Nationwide
Ceasefire Agreement with the then Thein Sein government in October 2015.
However, it has signed bilateral accords with the government.